Adjustable mote guide



June 12, 1934. A EUN ADJUSTABLE MOTE GUIDE Filed Feb. 21. 1931 Patented June 12, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE ADJUSTABLE MOTE GUIDE Application February 21, 1931,'Serial No. 517,426

1 Claim.

My invention relates to cotton gins and pertains particularly to means in a cotton gin for separating the motes from the lint in the ginning operation.

In the operation of cotton gins it is more or less common to find the cotton lint including therewith a quantity of motes. These motes are immature or affected seeds which have not developed so that they can be properly separated from the lint and in the rotation of the gin saws they are thrown off at the rearward side of the saws and are liable to be drawn into the lint chute along with the cotton lint. The said lint is removed from the saws ordinarily by a current of air which is blown downwardly across the saws by means of a draft fan.

It is an object of my invention to provide adjacent the nozzle of a draft device for the lint an adjustable mote board which is movable toward and away from the saw cylinder so as to enable the operator to include or exclude the motes according to the condition of the cotton.

I contemplate the provision of a board pivoted adjacent the upper end of the draft nozzle and adapted to swing relative to the gin saws so as to regulate the passage of the motes into the lint chute.

In the drawing herewith Fig. 1 is a broken side view in vertical section showing my mote board therein.

Fig. 2 is a broken detail illustrating the manner in which the said mote board is adjustable.

It is to be understood that my invention is adapted for application to any ordinary type of gin and particularly gins employing pneumatic means for removing the lint from the gin saws.

In Fig. l I have shown a common type of cotton gin including a housing 1 having a gin breast 2. Mounted within the housing is a shaft 3 upon which the gin saws 4 are fixed. This shaft with the saws assembled thereon will be referred to as the saw cylinder. The saws are toothed and are rotated in an anti-clockwise direction as seen in the drawing to carry the cotton from the front side'upwardly between the gin ribs 5 where the lint is stripped from the seed which falls downwardly through an outlet chute 26. Forwardly of the ginning ribs are the huller ribs 6 which remove from the cotton the hulls and chaff which .are mixed with the cotton in the picking thereof.

Forwardly of the gin cylinder is an agitator roll '7 which is provided with outwardly extending spikes 8 which are inclined forwardly in a direction of rotation of the roll. The cotton fed into the gin through the space 9 adjacent the gin breast comes in contact with the agitator roll which loosens up the cotton and brings it in contact with the gin saws so that the lint may be carried away from the hulls and chaff, which are removed downwardly by the agitator roll.

curved passage upwardly through the blast nozzle 13 against the saws and carries the cotton through the lint flue 12 to the conveyor for the cotton, not shown.

In passing the ginning ribs 5 motes in the cotton are ordinarily thrown off into a chamber 16 and fall downwardly to a screw conveyor 17 which carries them from the gin. However, if the lint is silky and of light character it will tend to fly oif with the motes and be wasted. Also if the motes are numerous, it is desirable to keep them from being carried back into the lint and thus contaminate the lint. For this reason I have devised my mote board shown at 18.

With reference particularly to Fig. 2, it will be seen that this board is mounted upon a shaft 19 at the upper end of the draft nozzle. It is held in position by metal straps 20 or other equivalent means and the mote board secured thereto is preferably tapered in thickness toward the outer edge away from the rod or shaft 19. This board extends the full width of the saw cylinder and may be adjusted to and from the saws. To accomplish this I provide an arm 21 fixed to the shaft 19 and extending away from the same and forming a sort of crank arm in the rotation of the shaft. At the outer end of the arm 21 is pivoted a rack arm 22. This arm has a forward hooked handle 23 thereon and the lower side is provided with notches 24 which may be engaged with a latch bar 25 fixed to the frame of the gin. It will thus be seen that the position of the mote board may be easily changed to a plurality of positions through operation of the same by means of the rack bar.

In the operation of my device the board will be adjusted relative to the saw cylinder according to the amount of motes in the cotton and their tendency to be drawn in with the lint and the operator will be enabled to accomplish this adjustment by the simple manipulation of the ing along the upper end of said nozzle closely adjacent said cylinder, a mote board, wedge shaped in cross section secured to said shaft at its thicker edge and extending longitudinally of said cylinder and substantially tangent thereto to engage motes thrown from said cylinder, and means to rotate said shaft to adjust the thinner edge of said board toward and away from the periphery of said saw cylinder for the purpose described.

JOHN ARNOLD STREUN. 

